Mark Sable Detained by TSA for script to UNTHINKABLE #3
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Writer Mark Sable revealed on Twitter this weekend that he was detained by TSA security guards at LAX when they discovered inflammatory material in a the script for the third issue of Sable’s new BOOM Studios miniseries Unthinkable. Unthinkable is a new comic book that follows Alan Ripley, a best-selling author who joins a think tank commissioned after 9-11 to think the unthinkable and protect America from possible nightmare terrorist scenarios. But years later, when the think tank’s imaginary terror plots become frighteningly real, can he stop the Unthinkable from coming to pass?
Sable discussed his detention on Twitter in the following stream of tweets:
- Wow. Just detained by TSA for over half hour.They read and questioned me about the script for Unthinkable
- Talk about life imitating art imitating life. I ouldn’t make this up if I tried.
- Nothing like starting the day explaining you’re not a terrorist, but writing about them.
- I hope the TSA enjoyed the waterboarding in issue 3.At least they know comics aren’t just about superheroes.
- My privacy, a small price to pay for educating the government about the medium.
- Just hope TSA writes a spoiler free review for Unthinkable.
- Something tells me this is just the beginning. 2 more domestic flights and 4 international to go.
- I should have asked the TSA officers for a blurb. I suppose I can quote them on “WHO DO YOU WORK FOR?”. Very Kafkaesque.
Later on Sable decided to write to BOOM! Studios to give them a more in-depth version of the encounter to release to the public:
“Flying from Los Angeles to New York for a signing at Jim Hanley’s Universe Wednesday (May 13th), I was flagged at the gate for ‘extra screening’. I was subjected to not one, but two invasive searches of my person and belongings. TSA agents then “discovered” the script for UNTHINKABLE #3. They sat and read the script while I stood there, without any personal items, identification or ticket, which had all been confiscated.
“The minute I saw the faces of the agents, I knew I was in trouble. The first page of the UNTHINKABLE script mentioned 9/11, terror plots and the fact that the (fictional) world had become a police state. The TSA agents then proceeded to interrogate me, having a hard time understanding that a comic book could be about anything other than superheroes, let alone that anyone actually wrote scripts for comics.
“I cooperated politely and tried to explain to them the irony of the situation. While UNTHINKABLE blurs the line between fiction and reality, the story is based on a real-life government think tank where a writer was tasked to design worst-case terror scenarios. The fictional story of UNTHINKABLE unfolds when the writer’s scenarios come true, and he becomes a suspect in the terrorist attacks.
“In the end, I feel my privacy is a small price to pay for educating the government about the medium.”
Crazy Stuff eh? Well, the TSA will probably live to regret that move, as the news and controversy it kicks up will most likely just help sales of the new series! To be honest, I don’t think it will even need the help and extra exposure that this might bring it. I have read a pre-release copy of Unthinkable #1 and I was incredibly impressed with this opening issue. Unthinkable is a tense, original, intriguing, and thrilling political drama which really reflects the times of paranoia and mistrust that we currently live in. The artwork on the book is by an artist called Julian Totino Tedesco, who I have never heard of before, but it is intensely dark, and really adds extra depth to this already interesting story. Expect to see this book in Hypergeek’s Hot Picks this week!
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Unbelievably freaky actually. I gotta admit that the situation increased my curiosity on the comic book! I think this might work great actually, as publicity. Truly weird.